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PIAM's Bilingual Newspaper - First edition July 15th, 2014 - Written by and for PIAM's students from the University of Costa Rica.
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THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
THE BROKEN POT
Compiled by Prof. Rosemary Castro Solano
A water bearer in India had two large pots,
each hung on an end of a pole which he
carried across his neck. One of the pots
had a crack in it, and while the other pot
was perfect and always delivered a full
portion of water at the end of the long
walk from the stream to the master’s
house, the cracked pot arrived only half
full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with
the bearer delivering only one and a half
pots full of water in his master’s house. Of
course, the perfect pot was proud of its
accomplishments, perfect to the end for
which it was made. But the poor cracked
pot was ashamed of its own imperfection,
and miserable that it was able to
accomplish only half of what it had been
made to do. After two years of what it
perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to
the water bearer one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to
apologize to you."
"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you
ashamed of?"
"I have been able, for these past two years,
to deliver only half my load because this
crack in my side causes water to leak out
all the way back to your masters house.
Because of my flaws, you have to do all of
this work, and you don't get full value from
your efforts." the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old
cracked pot, and in his compassion he said,
"As we return to the master’s house, I
want you to notice the beautiful flowers
along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old
cracked pot took notice of the sun
warming the beautiful wild flowers on the
side of the path, and this cheered it some.
But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad
because it had leaked out half its load, and
so again the Pot apologized to the bearer
for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice
that there were flowers only on your side
of your path, but not on the other pots
side? That's because I have always known
about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.
I planted flower seeds on your side of the
path, and every day while we walk back
from the stream, you've watered them. For
two years I have been able to pick these
beautiful flowers to decorate my masters
table. Without you being just the way you
are, he would not have this beauty to grace
his house."
Each of us has our own unique flaws.
We're all cracked pots. But if we allow it,
others may benefit from our flaws. So,
don't be afraid of your flaws, especially of
those that come from the passing of time.
MOTIVATION
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
LA VASIJA CON GRIETAS
Compilación de la Prof. Rosemary Castro Solano
Hace mucho tiempo, había un cargador de
agua en la India que tenía dos grandes vasijas
colgadas a los extremos de un palo que
llevaba encima de los hombros para traer
agua de un arroyo cercano.
Una de las vasijas tenía una grieta por la cual
se perdía líquido en el camino de regreso,
mientras que la otra estaba en perfectas
condiciones y entregaba el agua completa al
final del largo camino a pie desde el arroyo
hasta la casa de su patrón.
Entonces, cuando el hombre por fin llegaba a
su destino, la vasija rota sólo contenía la
mitad del agua pues había derramado gran
cantidad de agua en el camino. Durante
mucho tiempo, esta fue la historia
diariamente.
Desde luego, la vasija sin grietas estaba muy
orgullosa de sus logros, pues funcionaba de
forma perfecta para los fines para la cual fue
creada. Por el contrario, la pobre vasija
agrietada estaba muy avergonzada de su
propia imperfección y se sentía miserable
porque sólo podía conseguir la mitad de lo
que se suponía debía hacer.
Un día, después de dos años, la vasija con
grietas le habló al aguador diciéndole: "Estoy
avergonzada de mi misma y me quiero
disculpar contigo.".
“¿Por qué?”, le preguntó el aguador.
“Porque debido a mis grietas, sólo puedes
entregar la mitad de mi carga. Debido a mis
grietas, sólo obtienes la mitad del valor de lo
que deberías.”
El aguador se sintió muy apesadumbrado por
la vasija y con gran compasión le dijo:
"Cuando regresemos a la casa del patrón
quiero que notes las bellísimas flores que
crecen a lo largo del camino.”.
Así lo hizo la vasija con grietas, en efecto, vio
muchísimas flores hermosas a todo lo largo,
pero de todos modos se sintió muy apenada
porque al final sólo lograba llevar la mitad de
su carga de agua.
Al verla aún triste, el aguador le dijo: “¿Te
diste cuenta de que las flores sólo crecen en
tu lado del camino? Siempre he sabido de tus
grietas y quise obtener ventaja de ello. Por
eso, sembré semillas de flores a todo lo largo
del camino por donde tú vas y todos los días
tú las has regado con el agua que derramas.
Durante dos años he podido recoger estas
flores para decorar el altar de mi maestro,
gracias a ti. Si no fueras exactamente como
eres, él no hubiera tenido esa belleza sobre
su mesa.”
Cada uno de nosotros tiene sus propias
grietas y defectos, por lo que todos somos
vasijas agrietadas. Pero si lo permitimos,
otros pueden beneficiarse de nuestras
grietas, especialmente de aquellas que
tenemos precisamente por servir a otros con
el paso de los años.
MOTIVACIÓN
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
COSTA RICA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: SURPRISE, SURPRISE!
By Ana Lorena Brenes Solís
As everybody knows, in the last Costa Rica’s
presidential election, we got diversity of
candidates as people said “all colors and
varieties” and with very different ideas:
communists, liberals, democratic, social
democratic, Christian, etc.
During the last years the strongest forces
were “Liberacion Nacional” and “Unidad
Social Cristiana”, but now people felt tired of
the same corruption.
Many years ago, the “Partido Accion
Ciudadana” (PAC), “Partido Movimiento
Libertario” (ML) and “Frente Amplio” (FA),
were founded and they had socialists and
communists in both sides. I mentioned only
these because they were the parties with
more followers.
At the beginning of the political campaign on
TV and in the newspapers you could see
almost only advertisements from Liberación
Nacional and Movimiento Libertario. The
others parties had none or just a few.
When the debates started on TV, the same
occurred. Most of the questions were
directed to both candidates of Liberación
Nacional and Movimiento Libertario, and the
surveys always were in favor of Liberacion
Nacional.
But little by little, the candidate of Frente
Amplio was increasing in popularity and
nobody gave anything for the candidate of
the PAC.
In the mean time, the Partido Acción
Ciudadana hired an advertising company,
which is a good example of what you can do
with not too much money but with an
intelligent advertising campaign.
The company was unknown in the country
but, of course, they studied the current
situation of Costa Rica, the two periods of
the government, the displeasure of the
people, the corruption in all the departments
of the government, etc.
They made a good campaign with the
candidate using phrases like “No más de lo
mismo” and “Con Costa Rica no se juega”.
They also used a lot of social meetings and
little by little were getting to know PAC’s
candidate, Luis Guillermo Solis, by means of
his good participation in the last debates.
And the rest is history. Surprise, Surprise!
NATIONAL
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
IS THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN A PROCESS OF CHANGE?
By Adriana Soledad Borel
Thursday July 10, 2014
San José- Will the new Legislative Assembly
be able to move the cart or will it remain
stuck?
The new fragmented Legislative Assembly
will have the opportunity to achieve, by
parties who negotiate, consensus and
openness to dialog. These measures could
allow them to undertake "the Great Task"
and the change that people want for their
country. They will have to pass laws that are
beneficial to the State and to the Costa Rican
people.
According to the newspaper La Nación, the
57 new members (PLN, PAC, PUSC, FA, ML,
RN, RC) "inherited discrepancies and trends
of previous governments such as: the Power
Contingency and Development Banking, the
In Vitro Fertilization and the Reform of the
Family Code.
In spite of this fragmentation, an alliance of
ideologically distinct parties (PAC, PLN, FA
and ML) has managed to adopt the first
version of the reform to the Development
Banking. At this moment the law project is
being verified by the Constitutional Court: if
defects are detected, there is agreement to
resolve them through a quick procedure.
However, there is one major obstacle to
resolve: the opposition of religious parties to
the adoption of laws the In Vitro Fertilization
and the Reform of the Family Code, which
would equalize the rights of the union of
persons of the same sex and heterosexual.
Summarizing, this Assembly still has a long
way to go, where it will only be if the
proposed alliances have enough leadership
to lead the country towards the necessary
change.
NATIONAL
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
THE RECENT STRIKE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION TEACHERS IN COSTA RICA: A SOFTWARE FAILURE OR A DEEPER ISSUE?
By Ileana Hess Araya
Everyone has heard about the most recent
strike of public education teachers in our
country and has most possibly been
affected directly or indirectly by it.
This is only another blow inflicted on the
citizens by one of the most destructive
unions in the country: the public education
teachers union.
It is fair enough that they tried to show
their support to their colleagues who did
not receive their salaries on time, but why
not pick two or three persons to represent
each school at the national strike? In that
way, they could have expressed their
support, the schools would not have been
closed and the student’s right to receive an
education would not have been affected.
It is hard to understand how people fail to
see that labor unions are their enemies,
and that those they claim to defend them
are often the ones that are most adversely
affected by the strikes; not only do they
trample public rights, but they turn their
batteries on the poor: those who cannot
afford to send their children to private
schools, those who cannot pay to get
private medical care when the public
hospitals are closed down, those who
cannot pay for a taxi to drive them around
a road blockade to get to their destinations
on time.
And yet all of these people pay the
syndicate fees out of their scarce money,
and this money goes to pay the salaries of
those whose job is to damage them and
their country as much as they can; in other
words, they are paying to be attacked, and
to let the syndicate leaders take their
rights from them, and to stop the country’s
progress.
We have enough examples of these
abuses, but until people open their eyes,
these abuses will continue.
NATIONAL
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
LUXURY RETIREMENT FUNDS - THE LIST IS OUT! HOW DO PUBLIC WORKERS' PENSIONS WHICH EXCEED 5 MILLION COLONES PER
MONTH CONTRADICT THE DREAM FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE?
By Ana Isabel González Trejos
Let’s first review the definition of educator:
“the person who acts professionally with
ethics, honesty, and integrity to maintain
both dignity and credibility in education”.
I always had the University of Costa Rica in
a pedestal. Every time I talked about it, I
felt proud because I believed in this
institution and its professors. I loved it and
I had faith in it. For me, it was the best
higher education institution in Costa Rica.
However, and after recently knowing by
the press how the group of university
professors did whatever they wanted with
our public funds in order to earn millions of
colones per month in their retirement
funds, my image of the UCR changed a lot.
I felt surprised, disappointed, frustrated
and angry. Let me make something clear, I
don’t feel envy, but I do censor these dirty
things they do with our traditional public
retirement funds system, only for them to
receive incredible quantities of millions of
colones per month.
Like Maquiavelo said that “the ends justify
the means”, public university professors
have used the youth and the poor, when
they have organized a lot of strikes and
public demonstrations in the streets of San
Jose to demand social justice, better life
conditions and higher salaries.
In the end all these false prophets were
just letting time pass to retire with
millionaire amounts and hid their faces
once they had obtained their economical
interests.
I don’t know how long can the public
system of retirement funds stand with
these millionaire pensions for public
university professors, but in the end the
most affected if the system breaks down
will be the poor teachers from the public
primary and secondary schools.
In conclusion, good university professors
disappeared a long time ago. What we
have now, in 2014, are higher university
workers whose brain only thinks about
money.
NATIONAL
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
“PILO” OBANDO AND HIS POPULAR CULTURE LEGACY
By Marielos Giralt Bermúdez
In this World Cup in Brazil, there was a
great absent in sports television narrative,
as we could not hear the funny ideas of
“Pilo” Obando. He was not there to make
us laugh and have a good time.
Last April 23rd, a few weeks before the
start of the World Cup, “Pilo” said goodbye
to so many Costa Ricans who were
identified with his stories and witty
comments. His voice had lost power weeks
before his death, because of serious health
complications, but his spirit was as restless
and funny as always in recent television
interviews.
What was Pilo´s popularity due to and
why is his legacy of cultural importance?
Undoubtedly “Pilo” was a pioneer in the
democratization of television language.
People were identified with his surprising
comments, enjoyed by people of all ages,
origins and professions.
We recall some of his most popular
phrases: “That player does not build even a
two-pieces puzzle.” “That match looks like
a ‘poor’s man pray’, only biscuits”. “The
tatá hour has arrived”, “That referee
whistled danger of goal.”
His three favorite words to narrate a
strong and accurate shot were: “frentazo”,
“piñazo”, and “zapatazo”.
In Italy 90, he said: “If Costa Rica makes
a goal, I will sing the Patriotic song instead
of the goal chant.” In the end he didn´t sing
the Patriotic song, because instead he
repeated insistently: “Medford, Medford,
Medford, Medford…”
When, after a match, the teams were
tied and the extra time of 30 minutes had
passed, he said: “They are coming for
“penalitos”.
The final whistle came, and we can only
recall the many times when “Pilo” with
strong voice recounted euphoric: “The
match referee: whistled, whistled,
whistled…”
So, the voice of one of the most
beloved sportscasters of the country was
turned off. He wasn´t a journalist and he
never went to the university, but his secret
was in his authenticity, simplicity and
passion in the narrative. His best
university, he said “was life.”
NATIONAL
CULTURE
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
THE POWER OF LEARNING TO KEEP OURSELVES YOUNG
By Giselle Jiménez
Health Specialist
Thursday July 10th, 2014
San José – When the elderly are asked
about their secret to keep themselves
young , they answer: exercising and
learning new things in general is the clue.
“The world as you experience it is there
in front of you or behind you, to the left
or right of you on your TV or your
monitor”, said David Foster Wallace.
We only devote a quarter of our lives to
learning. The remaining three quarters of
our life we spend working.
Just because you´ve finished your formal
education it doesn`t mean that your
education is over. But the school is not
the only provider of learning.
Education is the power to think clearly, to
act well in the world of work and the
power to appreciate life. We should be
diligent to learn, and continue to store
the knowledge.
A suggestion of a learning source could
be to investigate and learn about your
food, to maintain a balanced diet and
watch your triggers and your weight.
Educate yourself. Schooling and college
are important but being a “ learner for
life “ also matters. . Find ways to keep
learning through reading, studying, doing
things differently and staying open to
advice. Be ready to learn anything new,
no matter what your age is.
I would recommended reading good
books and extract from them wisdom to
stay young. It is important to take care of
yourself as it ensures a happier and
healthier life, as it helps you to keep
young.
Caring for your mental and emotional
well-being you can find ways to improve
your life. Reading self-help books or
spending time around successful people
is always important.
This is the clue for the power of learning
to keep ourselves young.
HEALTH
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
WE CAN FIGHT ALZHEIMER´S.....OF COURSE WE CAN.
By William Giralt Bermúdez
BACKGROUND
Every seven
seconds a case of
Alzheimer occurs in
the world, so say
the polls. Alarming truth! But what can we
do to fight this dangerous wrong?
Let us get into action: by exercising our brain,
increasing our self-esteem if it is low,
exercising our body properly, learning a
second language and avoiding routine and
physical inactivity.
It has always been believed that this disease
is reserved only for the elderly, but it also
has cases in 40-years-old adults who have
already submitted. When the brains goes
idle, neurons are lost and shrink, so we
should not allow the progress of the 3 stages,
as the silent disease takes approximately 20
years to show signs.
We must teach our body to fight pain, seek
peace, be active, and immunize our bodies.
"The tranqulity is priceless", said Mr.
Gerardo Gutiérrez, our teacher in the course
of Medicinal Plants here in PIAM tells us,
because if we come to the second stage
where we begin to forget important things
like the loved ones, we lost our way home
and we already begin to suffer senile
dementia, as changes to brain level are given
and come last.
WHAT IS OUR HOPE?
We said that we have several opportunities
to combat this painful disease. 25 years ago
the visionary Dr. Alfonso Trejos Willis,
proposed the plan to the University of Costa
Rica to create a program for the rescue of
older adults to integrate studies in university
classrooms that help fight mental inactivity
and created the PIAM.
Since then, there have been courses that
have saved many people to acquire not only
Alzheimer´s if not other illnesses of old age.
Only the fact that you learn second language,
- such as English with professionals given
entirely without profit to teach their vast
knowledge, their friendship and
understanding, as in the case our teacher
Rosemary Castro for several semesters, and
also teacher Mari Chan - keeps our minds
open to learning that we cannot get back
decades and arrive in a timely manner to
maintain a busy brain to show something
important and productive, like learning a
second language.
I have also been fortunate to learn about
electricity with the electric engineer
Balthazar Chaverri, unknown to my field, or
the course of Medicinal Plants you share
with us the teacher of the caliber Gerardo
Gutiérrez. So that in a time of the twilight of
my life, it has been possible not only to
reaffirm my own value, but also to keep a lot
of sufferings away.
Thanks a lot Dr. Alfonso Trejos, thanks a lot
to professor Rosemary Castro, and thanks a
lot to PIAM.
HEALTH
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
THE GNC CONTROVERSY IN COSTA RICA
By Manuel (“Manny”) Rojas Vargas
The GNC franchise Costa Rica had a problem:
they had been selling some products with an
expired permit in their stands in different
stores, so they used the Ministry of Health’s
permit label that belongs to others products
on supplements’ containers. Allegedly, they
did this because the Ministry of Health takes
a long time to register the old products with
the permits ending time (5 years) and for the
new ones. In other words, GNC Costa Rica
was selling products with false information
labels, and this is another violation of the
Costa Rican laws.
I know exactly the viacrucis this means for
the different companies in Costa Rica; it is a
perfect affliction the excessive documents
they have to present to approve the new
products or the older. You have to present
laboratory tests, formulas of the products,
supplements facts label, free sale certificates
of the product and distribution of country
origin, notary certification of the product
signed and certified by the government ,etc.
So, this presentation takes a lot of time to be
approved; more or less 1 to 3 years.
There are different kinds of products to
register: pharmaceutics (science), natural
products, food and chemistry ones, and
some of these products will take a short of
time to register but others like natural and
medicines take a lot of time.
They are no innocent products supplements.
The people who want to use them, can do it
with no problem, but always following the
indication of their doctor. I think the
supplements are awesome especially for
high performance athletes.
I think with a very good nutrition guide
expert, the supplements are not necessary;
only in special cases.
On the other side of the coin, I don´t know
how the Ministry of Health has taken a short
period of time to give them the green light to
sell those products , when GNC violated laws
information and this is very delicate in CR.
How did they do it? What kind of
agreements did they take with the
government?
Could you tell me how they did it? I would
like to know!!!!!
HEALTH
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
THE SPANISH ABDICATION AFFAIR
By Fernando Barrantes Mora
In these first decades of the 21st
century, some national states of
Western Europe still have a
government system called
Constitutional Monarchy. This
political organization form is the
result of a long way historic process
that began in early Middle Age (9th
century) at the collapse of the
Carolingian Empire.
At that time, most of the Western
Europe became divided into small
parcels of economic and political
power, called fiefs. The maximum
authorities were landowner warriors
called feudal landlords. This system
had its basis in the relation of lord to
vassals and serfs. The serfs were
bound to the land and subject to the
will of its owner.
When nations were emerging because
of similar language, history and other
cultural features, one of these feudal
landlords prevailed – generally by war
– over the entire country and then, he
became the king of the nation. So, the
political cohesion was given and
national states were born.
In the 20th century, monarchies acted
like ties, maintaining national unity
during crisis times. For example, the
English Monarchy during the Second
World War or Juan Carlos I in Spain,
with the transition from Franco’s
dictatorship to electoral democracy.
At present time, citizens of those
countries support the political system
with suffrage at periodical elections.
While people that vote are more than
those who get abstention, the system
is in fact valid. In these governments,
royal dynasties are obviously part of
the dominant class that considers
them a symbol of power in
domination scheme.
So, the abdication of a troubled king
who is transferring the throne to his
son is not very relevant news. In
contrast, news is the increasing
number of citizens claiming against
monarchies.
WORLD
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
THE KIDNAPPED GIRLS IN NIGERIA: EDUCATION IS A
HUMAN RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE
By Leda Castro Herrera
Education is not a privilege.
It is a human right.
According to the Article 10 of the Convention
on the elimination of all forms of
discrimination against women “States have
the obligation to take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in order to ensure to them
equal rights with men in the field of
education”.
Despite progress, girls and women continue
to be discriminated against in their right to
access education.
According to official United Nations statistics,
of the 72 million children who are not in
school, girls are the majority. Of the 759
million adults who cannot read or write, 70
per cent are women.
The head of the ONU, Women for the
America and the Caribbean, Moni Pizani,
pointed out in a recent written statement
that while most countries from Latin America
had met the goal of gender enrollment in
primary education, this not translate into
better job opportunities for women.
Everyday examples of discrimination are
evident although just a few of them reach
out to public light.
La educación no es un
privilegio, es un derecho
humano.
El artículo 10 de la Convención para la
eliminación de toda forma de discriminación en
contra de la mujer establece “Los estados
tienen la obligación de tomar las medidas
necesarias para eliminar la discriminación en
contra de la mujer y asegurar en el campo
educativo igualdad de derechos con los
hombres.”
En las últimas décadas se ha logrado realizar
importantes avances en este campo, sin
embargo la discriminación continua y la brecha
entre géneros se mantiene.
De acuerdo con datos oficiales de las Naciones
Unidas, 72 millones de niños no asisten a la
escuela y una gran mayoría son mujeres. De un
total de 759 millones de adultos que no saben
escribir ni leer, un 70 por ciento son mujeres.
Moni Pizani directora del Programa de la ONU,
Mujeres para las Américas y el Caribe señaló
que si bien muchos países de America Latina
han alcanzado la meta de paridad en la
incorporación de hombres y mujeres en la
educación primaria, esto no se traduce en
mejores oportunidades educativas o laborales
para la mujer.
Cada día se pueden evidenciar múltiples
casos de discriminación en contra de la
mujer, si bien solamente unos pocos logran
ocupar la atención mundial.
WORLD
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
October 9, 2012. Malala Yousafzai, a young
Pakistan on their way home from school
received three shots. Her biggest mistake
was to give speeches across Pakistan in favor
of education.
Malala did not die and today she is an
activist. The assassination attempt received
worldwide media coverage and over 2
million people signed the Right to Education
petition
The Malala Fund is supporting the education
of girls. In a speech In the United Nations she
said “One pen, one teacher and one book
can change the world”.
April 14, 2014. Boko Haram terrorist
kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in
North Nigeria. Boko Haram is a group of
Islamic extremists whose name is loosely
translated as “Western education is
forbidden “.
The terrible kidnapping has evoked
condemnation from people all over the
world and promoted a world campaing
“BRING BACK OUR GIRLS”. Yet nothing has
happened.
In the recent Nigeria-Argentina match, in the
bustle of the World Cup, a few small posters
appeared with the slogan “Bring Back our
girls now and alive but the GOOOAL cry
relegated them to the background, as this
seems to be happening with this terrible
kidnapping
217 girls are still missing.
We are still waiting for a change. Education is
not a privilege. It is a human right. July, 2014
9 de Octubre, 2012. Malala Yousafzai, una
joven pakistaní recibió tres balazos cuando
se dirigía de la escuela a su casa. Un grupo
extremista le cobro el ofrecer charlas a favor
de la educación femenina.
Malala no murió y hoy en día es una
importante activista en pro de los derechos a
la educación. El intento de asesinato tuvo
una cobertura mundial y llevo a más de 2
millones de personas a escribir la petitoria
“Derecho a la Educación”.
Hoy en día la Fundación Malala promueve la
educación femenina. En una reciente
presentación ante las Naciones Unidas ella
expreso “Un lápiz, un maestro y un libro
pueden cambiar el mundo”.
14 de Abril, 2014. Un grupo de extremistas
islámicos denominados Boko Haram
secuestro a más de 200 jóvenes mientras
descansaban en el dormitorio que las
alojaba. Boko Haram es un grupo terrorista
cuyo nombre se puede traducir “la educación
occidental es pecado”.
Este secuestro desato una voraz campaña en
redes sociales bajo el lema “Devuelvan a
nuestras niñas”. Hoy nada ha sucedido.
En el barullo del partido Nigeria-Argentina,
se lograban observar unos tímidos rotulitos
con el lema “Devuelvan a nuestras niñas
vivas y ahora”, pero fueron rápidamente
desvanecidos por el grito de GOOOOL y
relegados a un muy segundo plano, tal y
como parece está sucediendo a nivel
internacional con este terrible secuestro.
217 jóvenes están aún desaparecidas.
Estamos aún esperando un cambio, La
educación no es un privilegio. La educación
es un derecho. Julio, 2014.
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
“EL NIÑO’S” PHENOMENON IN COSTA RICA
By Rodrigo Brenes Villar
The child is a climatic phenomenon
that usually appears in the Pacific
Ocean, in front of South America
every four years and it is
characterized by an increase in the
water temperature of the Pacific
Ocean and a decrease in the
Caribbean Ocean. Its effects appeared
for the first time in December, in time
of Christmas festivities and, for this
cause, it takes “El Niño’s” name.
In our country the first people to
realize the phenomenon were the
fisherman because warm water
makes the fish migrate to deeper
water, far from the coast, and fishing
becomes more difficult. The
phenomenon also causes low
temperatures in the Caribbean Ocean,
and the risk of flooding is higher.
The phenomenon remains for almost
two years and it causes severe
drought especially in the provinces of
Guanacaste and Puntarenas. The lack
of rainfall also favors the increase of
pests and rodents, causing extensive
damages to the production of basic
grains, grasses, fodder. These factors
are the cause of great losses in
agriculture, fisheries and livestock
that are the main activities of the
region.
Another important aspect is the low
production of electricity due to the
lack of rain water; the levels in
hydroelectric dams are very low and
cannot work at maximum. So, we
have to put diesel plants to work but
their cost is higher.
This phenomenon affects the entire
national economy, as the prices of
food (grains, meet, and fish),
electricity, and transport will be
higher. Only the tourism sector will be
benefited because the year will be
sunny.
The only solution to fight the effect of
this phenomenon is through the
cooperation of all of us and strong
government campaigns to save the
available resources.
ENVIRONMENT
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
FIFA’S WORLD CUP AND COSTA RICAN HUMOUR
By Sonia Amador Berrocal
SAN JOSE - The Costa Rican football team is in the World Cup and placed in the so-called “death group”. Despite that, the “ticos” were the winners of their group, against all predictions and causing different public reactions among “ticos”. Some players had had positive expressions like “We will go to Brazil with our illusions and dreams; we will make history”. And people have answered them with hopes, gifts and ovations at the airport, when they returned from the championship. Why do we feel a lot of enthusiasm and happiness if our team is seen as a poor football one and it doesn’t have sport recognition around the world? Probably the causes are in the very same people. Since 2010, we have been named by the New Economics Foundation as one of the top countries in the Happy Planet Index, and in 2012 we even achieved the top spot and became the happiest country in the world, despite having poor economic development. However, and because it is necessary to clarify, some national studies have said that ranking isn’t true, because we have social inequality, poverty, unemployment and other very serious social issues. Nevertheless and apart from the above discussion, a lot of “ticos” have been posting many happy expressions on Facebook. Some of them are poetic, such as:
Costa Rican World team, continental giant
we plead that in our next play the referee treats us less well
Sele mundialista,
gigante continental, que en la próxima mejenguita
el árbitro no nos trate mal Other ones are visual, like the people who claim to have seen the trophee in Poás Volcano’s lake (see the picture). There have also been plenty of jokes about our rivals and enormous meetings to celebrate our triumphs. We are not a wealthy country and we probably don’t have the best football in the world, but this World Cup has given us great happiness and good humor.
Lucky charm? Tourists claim to have seen a World Cup
image reflected in the Poás Volcano lagoon.
HUMOUR
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
“LA SELE” MAKES US BELIEVE AGAIN: A STORY OF GUTS,
DISCIPLINE AND DREAMS
By José Guillermo Severino Solano
The day was June 11th, 1990. The place was
the Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Geneva, Italy.
The protagonists were the Costa Rican
national soccer team players, a group of
players that had never been in that kind of
stage before, but their lack of experience at
world tournaments wasn’t an obstacle to win
their first match against Scotland.
Brazil soccer team was their next rival in a
difficult game that they lost by only one goal.
But winning their third game against Sweden
allowed the “Sele” to prove they were a
fantastic team and could classify to the
knock-out rounds of the last sixteen, getting
the second place in group C. Even though
they lost against the Czech Republic in the
next stage, they had made an incredible
performance.
Names like Róger Flores, Luis Gabelo Conejo,
Juan Arnoldo Cayasso, Claudio Jara, and
Mauricio Montero, among others, have been
remembered since that year in our football
history. With their best effort and technique
that group made a whole country´s dream
true.
The 1990 achievement seemed to be
unrepeatable; Costa Rica national soccer
team had other World Cup experiences, but
none as the 1990´s one.
Costa Rica´s team had to wait twelve years to
be in another World Cup, when in 2002 and
guided by the coach Alexandre Guimarães,
Costa Rica classified first in CONCACAF to the
Korea and Japan World Cup. However, the
results in their tournament matches didn´t
favor our national team to go beyond the
first stage, because we even had to face
Brazil again, that year’s cup champion.
Another opportunity came when the team
classified to Germany 2006. Then, for the
third time, Costa Rica participated in the best
competition of soccer, facing the home team
Germany in the initial match of the contest,
but losing in all their presentations.
However, Costa Rica’s history in World Cups
seemed to change last year, when our soccer
team classified in second place in the
CONCACAF qualifying hexagonal. Just behind
the United States, we got our ticket to
Brazil´s World Cup when there remained
some qualifying games to play. But another
obstacle had arrived when they realized that
group D, where Costa Rica was assigned,
there were also three other former world
champions, making the qualification to the
next stage really difficult for the Central
American team.
Italy, the second most successful national
team with four championships; Uruguay, two
times world champion including the first
world cup championship; and England one of
the oldest national teams and one time
champion, were the rivals of Costa Rica. This
group was called by the international press
“the death group” based on their
competitive level. These perspectives made
Costa Rica´s team the victim of multiple jokes
and the object of a general expectation that
SPORTS AND
CULTURE
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
they couldn´t do anything against their
powerful rivals.
However, the attitude of Costa Rica´s coach
Jorge Luis Pinto was exactly the opposite.
After the raffle of the tournament groups, he
said “bravest the bull, better the bull´s run”.
The challenge wasn´t lost since the
beginning. On the contrary, it was accepted
as a motivation to do things right.
This attitude made Costa Rica´s debut on the
2014 World Cup a total success and let
others know that they weren’t intimidated
by former champions. Costa Rica won the
match against Uruguay three goals to one,
and led the “death group” since the first
presentation. Campbell, Duarte and Ureña
scored the goals.
Then came Italy, which was also defeated by
Costa Rica, with the captain Bryan Ruíz’s
goal. Now Costa Rica´s team was doing the
unthinkable and became the surprise of the
World Cup. After Italy, with a draw against
England, the team classified in first place to
the knock-out stage, after twenty four years
since they had done it for the first time.
But the 2014 soccer team not only wanted to
match what the 1990 team did, they wanted
more. They wanted to get into the final
eight, and they did. After they had had an
amazing performance in the groups’ stage, a
draw against Greece which they won in the
penalty shots, let them advance to the next
stage. After a really difficult game, five
perfectly executed penalty shots and an
outstanding stop of our goal keeper Keylor
Navas, we deserved to advance in the
tournament.
The last challenge was against Netherlands, a
team that was second in the last tournament
and which was considered one of the
favorites to win the world cup. As they did in
the other games, the “Sele” went to the field
giving their best, but although they had an
excellent defense, this time they were in
troubles to score. The match ended with a
draw also, so once again they went to the
penalty shots. However, after the coach of
Netherlands changed their goal keeper, the
Netherlands players scored all their penalties
and our team missed two of them. We were
officially out of the World Cup, but our team
never lost a game. On the contrary, we had
the best defense and the best goal keeper.
Meanwhile in San José and every other city
in Costa Rica people got crazy. Never in the
history of soccer had a national team gotten
so far in a World Cup, and after the team was
underestimated they proved to the world
that with guts, discipline, effort and dreams
everything was possible.
Also, even though football is only a game,
this team has united the people of Costa Rica
with the same feeling, knowing that with
effort we can achieve big dreams. It also
values our team and our people in front of
the world. Thanks God we were there to
enjoy it.
THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014
By Prof. Rosemary Castro Solano
Learning English (or any language, for that
matter) is a process. So, in order to
continually improve your English, we have
thought about some strategies to make sure
that you are able to reach your English
learning goals.
1. Patience is key to improving your
English, so go slowly and focus on
your goals. Remember that learning
a language is a gradual process - it
does not happen overnight.
2. Define your learning objectives early:
What do you want to learn and why?
3. Make learning a habit. Try to learn
something every day. It is much
better to study (or read, or listen to
English news, etc.) 10 minutes each
day than to study for 2 hours once a
week, because if you study just once
a week, English will not be as present
in your mind.
4. Vary your learning routine. It is best
to do different things each day to
help keep the various relationships
between each area active. In other
words, don't just study grammar.
5. Find friends to study and speak with.
Learning English together can be
very encouraging.
6. Choose listening and reading
materials that relate to what you are
interested in. Being interested in the
subject will make learning more
enjoyable - thus more effective.
7. Relate grammar to practical usage.
Grammar by itself does not help you
USE the language. You should
practice what you are learning by
employing it actively.
8. Be patient with yourself. Remember
learning is a process - speaking a
language well takes time. It is not a
computer that is either on or off!
9. Communicate! There is nothing like
communicating in English and being
successful. Grammar exercises are
good - having your friend on the
other side of the world understand
your email is fantastic!
10. Use the Internet. The Internet is the
most exciting, unlimited English
resource that anyone could imagine
and it is right at your finger tips.
Remember that English learning is a process,
so be patient with yourself and with the
other people who are with you in this
process.
TIPS FOR
LEARNING
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